A personal exploration of Wiccan spirituality

Day 236: Casting the Circle, The Second Layer

The first layer of the circle was to energetically make the space receptive to the energies that will bind with it and set it aside as a space between worlds. To accomplish that, we physically and energetically set it off with consecrated water and earth (salt) that we combined. Now we do the same thing with the masculine elements of fire and air.

To begin, we set up our altar the same way as we did for casting the first layer. We consecrate the elements and ourselves and proceed with casting that first layer as we did before. Then, we go on with the second.

Sprinkle some of the air incense on the charcoal and allow it to smolder. While it does, hold your hands over the smoke and say aloud:

Fire and air I cast thee ’round,

By thy essence, life be bound.

Knowledge of thy true desire,

Blessed be by air and fire.

Carry the incense in the burner to the eastern quarter of your sacred space and begin to walk deosil along the perimeter. As you walk, silently hold out the incense so that it imparts its magical essence. Imagine that you seal the sacred space with a red and yellow aura as you cast this layer of your circle. Continue until you return to the east where you began.

When you are finished, sit within the sacred space you have developed so far. How does it feel?

To close the first two layers of the circle, stand again in the east and face the outer edge. Hold your hands outward toward the east. Silently circumambulate the space, going widdershins. Continue to hold your hands out toward the edge of the circle as you walk. Imagine that the energies you’ve raised begin to subside and sink into the earth where they are reabsorbed and neutralized. Once you reach the easternmost point again, pause to sense the difference in energy now that you have banished the circle. Store all ritual items immediately after your rites and flush the water, incense, and salt in running water.

I suppose this should come as no great surprise, but after I went around with the censer and visualized twining a helix of yellow and red around the one of blue and green, the energy of the space felt a lot more potent than receptive. To use a more biological metaphor, it was as if the gametes had joined and just created a fertile new ‘other’.

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About the Project

I'm Melissa Zupan. This blog began in 2008 as a record of my attempt to work through Timothy Roderick's book, "Wicca: A Year and a Day." Since then I joined up with a merry coven of Gardnerian witches and became an initiate in 2013.
The blog is now a fuller record of my life and work in Wicca. Right now, there's no main theme. I just write what I want to write.

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